Car-uncoupler



L. CUR'NELL.

CAR UNCOUPLER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30. 1520.

Patented Feb. 1,1921.

wue/wfoz .ZiueYZa 001724222 UNITED STATES LUELLA CORNELL, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

CAR-UNCOUPLER.

Application filed June 30,

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUELLA CORNELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York,-l1ave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Uarllncouplers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a lull, clear, and exact description of one form of my invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, "forming a part of this specification.

This invention has rererence to mechanism for operating the coupling means at the ends of railway cars, at one or more places remote from the coupler; whereby the t'ain men are not required to actuate the coupler itself.

The object oi the invention is to provide an improved and eliicient uncoupling device, which may be readily applied and operated in connection with the various forms of standard car couplers, in general use by railroads; and which further will comply with the requirements, and the preferred con struction made standard by the Master Car Builders Association.

In the accompanying drawing illustrating a modification of my invention, Figure 1 shows the end portion of a conventional form of railway car generally known as a box car.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the uncoupling rnembers.

Fig. 3 shows the uncoupling lever that operates from the side of the car.

Fig. 4 shows enlarged the hook on the end of the uncoupling rod.

Fig. 5 shows the same operating means as applied to a freight car of the gondola type, with the end of the car in lowered position, and the uncoupling device disconnected.

As shown in Figs. 1-4, the box car is set forth as having an end member 2, and a sill 3. The usual form of coupler l, of the Janney, or Gould type, is shown, provided with a pin 5 having an opening or eye 6 at the top; which member is usually known as a lock link of the coupler. This form of coupler is uncoupled by the operation of' raising this pin or link, and the purpose of the present invention is to provide a device for aising this link, to be operated by a person on the top 7 of the car, and also from one side of the car, so that such person does not have to go between the cars, it on the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1, 1921. 1920. Serial No. 392,970.

ground, nor does such person have to come down it on top of the box car.

For this purpose I provide an operating angularrod 8 extending from the sill 3 up to the top of the car, and guided for movement upwardly by suitable means, such as an eye bolt 9, the rod having a handle 10 at the top to be readily grasped by the operator. The lower end of this operating rod is provided with means for detachably connecting it with the pin eye 6 and by a direct connection having no intern'iediate links or rings, to comply with the requirements of the M. C. B.

In the form shown the rod 8 has its lower end portion 9 extending laterally from the car end 2, and is bent to form a hook 12 this end, that can be passed through the ,eye 6 of the coupler pin, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. This hook is preferably provided with a keeper shown in the form of a spring tongue 13, that will bend to admit the link but prevent the loosening of the hook .Tl'Olll the pin, until the tongue is manipulated. Yet the hook can be readil disconnected by the trainman when desire This tongue is preferably secured by in tegral means, such as bending over the edges 1 1-, 14 of a recess in the hook that can be done by a quick heat process, that will perrnit the sides of this recess to bend over the spring tongue, without drawing the temper oi the spring. The plan view of Fig. 2 shows the pin or the lock link in its normal position with the eye opening at the sides,

and the hook 12 is normally in a horizontal plane as shown in this View. Since the operating rod 8 is attached tothe car end only by the guiding eye bolt at 9, it can be readily operated by the trainman to be unhooked, and again hooked in the eye of the coupler pin or link. It will be readily understood that when the hook is engaged in the pin eye, the traininan on top of the car has merely to grasp the handle 10 and pull upward on the operating rod, that will withdraw the pin and uncouple the car.

I further provide means for operating the coupler pin from the side of the car, that is detachably connected with the described operating means. In Fig. 8 I how a simple lever 15 that has an opening 16 at its intermediate part, through which passes a bolt 17 to pivot this lever on the sill 3. The lever will have its outer end 18 adjacent the end of the sill, which is one side of the car, while the other end of the lever 15 is provided with an angular loop 19 as shown. This loop will serve to receive and inelose the lateral extension 9 of the operating rod 8, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. By merely pressing downward on the outer end 18 of the lever 15, this lever will press upward on the rod portion 9, and therefore will raise the pin 5 in the coupler, effecting the uncoupling operation. Itwill be understood that this uncoupling lever has a direct connection with the operating rod 9, and no loose links are employed, that is considered objectionable in this mechanism.

The special advantage of such a construction appears when it is applied to a car whose end member is hinged to swing inwardly and downwardly to lie on the bottom of the car. In Fig. 5 I show a car of this type, in which the body 20 has its end member 21 hinged at its lower edge 22 to swing down on the car bottom. The same form of uncoupling mechanism that I have described, is applied to this latter, but the operating rod 8 is simply made shorter, to reach onlyto the top of the end member 21. Otherwise the construction is identical, and alsothe operation. When a mechanism of this character, on this form of car is in operative position with the end member Vertical, and it is desired to swing the end member down to the horizontal position, it'is only necessary to disconnect the snap hook 12 from the eye of the pin 5, and then move the lateral portion 9 of the operating rod to one side, bringing it out oi the link 19 of the lever 15. This will obviously leave the operating member 8, and its lateral portion 9, entirely free, both of the coupler pin and of the lever 15. The end member 21 can now be swung down on the car bottom, as indicated in Fig. 5, it being connected with the car only by the eye bolt 9'. Obviously the lateral portion 9 of the rod can swing down to a horizontal position, as shown.

It will be readily understood that a mechanism of this construction is very simple and cheap to construct, comprising merely the operating rod with its hook and the side lever, with the two fastening means for such members. These parts connect direct with the usual form oi coupler pin.

it is to be understood that various changes can be made by those skilled in this art, within the purview 0'2 the claims, without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

T he present invention is an improvement on the uncoupling device set liorth in U. Letters Patent No. 1,298,669 granted to me April 1, 1919.

What I claim is 1. In a car coupler, the combination with a ca having one end. hinged at the lower edge, and a coupler provided with a coupling pin having an eye, of an upright rod guided to slide on th car end and amending to the top, said rod having a bottom portion extending out to engage the coupling pin, a snap hook on the end of said extension engaging the pin eye and adapted to be disengaged without dismounting the rod or the pin, a lever pivoted on the car end sill and provided with a hook at its end engaging said rod extension, and adapted to be die- I connected from said rod without dismounting of the lever or the rod, whereby the car end can be swung down on the bottom of the car.

2. The combination with a car body having a coupler and coupling pin provided with an eye, of a rod slidably and rotatably mounted on the car body end, an extension. on said rod having means at its end normally engaging the eye of the coupler pin, said means being disengageable from said eye by rotation of the rod in one direction, a lever pivoted to the car end and having means at its inner end normally engaging said extension, said extension being disengageable from the lever by rotation of the -rod in the oppositedirection to its rotation when disengaging from the coupler pin.

Signed at New York city, N. Y., on June LUELLA. CORNELL. 

